In its most sophisticated form, spyware can be unwittingly downloaded on a phone and extract texts and private files and monitor a user’s actions. Some spyware is so advanced that is can turn on your phone’s microphone, secretly record and even take pictures with the camera. A forensic analysis of Bezos’s phone, conducted last year by FTI Consulting Inc., concluded that massive amounts of data started being secretly uploaded from Bezos’s phone within hours of receiving the video file. The analysts didn’t find the spyware on Bezos’s phone, but concluded with medium to high confidence that it had been infected by malware contained in the message from the crown prince’s account. But even sophisticated users -- like Bezos -- find it hard to shield their phones against the most advanced spyware on the market.

Source: Washington Post February 02, 2020 07:26 UTC